Jeremiah 8

8“At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. ²They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and ^awhich they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered ^bnor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. ³Then ^cdeath shall be chosen rather than life by all the ¹residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.

The Peril of False Teaching

⁴“Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Will they fall and not rise?

Will one turn away and not return?

⁵Why has this people ^dslidden back,

Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?

^eThey hold fast to deceit,

^fThey refuse to return.

^6gI listened and heard,

But they do not speak aright.

^hNo man repented of his wickedness,

Saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turned to his own course,

As the horse rushes into the battle.

⁷“Even ⁱthe stork in the heavens

Knows her appointed times;

And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow

Observe the time of their coming.

But ^jMy people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁸“How can you say, ‘We are wise,

^kAnd the law of the Lord is with us’?

Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.

^9lThe wise men are ashamed,

They are dismayed and taken.

Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;

So ^mwhat wisdom do they have?

¹⁰Therefore ⁿI will give their wives to others,

And their fields to those who will inherit them;

Because from the least even to the greatest

Everyone is given to ^ocovetousness;

From the prophet even to the priest

Everyone deals falsely.

¹¹For they have ^phealed the hurt of the daughter of My people ²slightly,

Saying, ^q‘Peace, peace!’

When there is no peace.

¹²Were they ^rashamed when they had committed abomination?

No! They were not at all ashamed,

Nor did they know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

In the time of their punishment

They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹³“I will surely ³consume them,” says the Lord.

“No grapes shall be ^son the vine,

Nor figs on the ^tfig tree,

And the leaf shall fade;

And the things I have given them shall ^upass away from them.” ’ ”

¹⁴“Why do we sit still?

^vAssemble yourselves,

And let us enter the fortified cities,

And let us be silent there.

For the Lord our God has put us to silence

And given us ^wwater ⁴of gall to drink,

Because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵“We ^xlooked for peace, but no good came;

And for a time of health, and there was trouble!

¹⁶The snorting of His horses was heard from ^yDan.

The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His ^zstrong ones;

For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,

The city and those who dwell in it.”

¹⁷“For behold, I will send serpents among you,

Vipers which cannot be ^acharmed,

And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.

The Prophet Mourns for the People

¹⁸I would comfort myself in sorrow;

My heart is faint in me.

¹⁹Listen! The voice,

The cry of the daughter of My people—

From ^ba far country:

“Is not the Lord in Zion?

Is not her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked Me to anger

With their carved images—

With foreign idols?”

²⁰“The harvest is past,

The summer is ended,

And we are not saved!”

^21cFor the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.

I am ^dmourning;

Astonishment has taken hold of me.

²²Is there no ^ebalm in Gilead,

Is there no physician there?

Why then is there no recovery

For the health of the daughter of my people?